Women Gone Wild

I tried to make a quick trip to the fabric store today for buttons and a little something I needed for my new toy that I will tell you about momentarily. I could not even get to the little something because 30+ women were attacking boxes and shopping carts full of yarn. What in the world is going on here? thought I. Is there a world wide yarn shortage that I don't know about? Is there a super sale and should I be elbow to elbow with these frenzied women? So I ask a woman who is frantically calling out, "Does anyone see another skein of Cocoa fun fur?" No sale, no shortage, big sigh of relief. Just restocking day. I slipped away quietly to the empty pattern table to browse the Butterick sale patterns and wait for the maddening mob to ebb.

Half an hour later, only one woman remained digging in the cart in front of the embrordery thread and she gladly shared her space. I dearly hope these scarf-mad women will one day discover the joys of better yarns and more challenging patterns.

And why do I need embrordery thread you ask? Why for my new embrordery machine, of course! School was cancelled due to wet streets, so we braved the snow and went on a family outing to Wally World. My adorable, wonderful husband, said, "Why don't you show me the embrordery machine you've been talking about." "Of course, darling. Right this way." I, who didn't really want to go because I didn't need anything but decided to go anyway for dark chocolate, walked out of Wal-mart with a Disney edition Brother embrordery machine and, as the girls and I were lolly-gagging our merry way out, hubby went ahead and got back into line to get me a bouquet of flowers. I am so loved, I can hardly stand myself.

Here is my first design. It will be the neckline for a little girl's dress:

Now, lets back up a few days. My Dad took me to my doctor appointment Monday- a lovely 4 hour drive away. We stopped in Black Mountain at Wild & Wooly for an amazing touchy-feely, looky-see session. After much deliberation, this is what I walked away with:

My loot includes a tangled mess of KFI Cashmereno, Rosina Kikki, leather purse handles, 2 stitch markers, and Lanette superwash wool. Ooo la la. Now, let's take this one by one.

There wasn't enough Cashmereno of one color for a sweater, so I bought all they had. I really wanted enough to knit the shawl-colored Vittadini sweater (p. 80 in the winter VK), but I think I'll use it for sweater #30 on page 87. Or I may make up my own. I'm thinking bold cables on a multi-colored seed stitch background. Depends on my mood when I start.

The Kikki is a cotton/acrylic/linen blend I bought for a summer sweater, but after reading Kari's post, I'm thinking maybe a Clapotis for spring. I really love this pattern, but the name has put me off even considering it. It sounds like a venereal disease. Maybe I souldn't say that.  Kate's design is wonderful, but just what does Clapotis mean? I'm sure everyone knows but me.

The purse handles, well, shall be attached to purses. I saw one example made up with beads knit in, so I bought beads at the fabric store. My intentions are good. We'll see what happens.

The stitch markers were made by a local craftswoman, and are truely lovely. I plan to get DD#1 who does beading to make me more.

The Lanette is for the latest 6 Sox pattern- a fun stripe toe-up pattern which makes me very nervous because because I have yet to do a successful figure 8 cast on, but I will stay positive. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Car knitting accomplishments: I finished dear deserving hubby's scarf. Wool-ease is not my favorite because it does tend to pill when washed, but it is soft and washable, and I love the suttle colors you don't notice at first glance.

DD#1's S&B vest is complete and ready to wrap for her 17th birthday on Wednesday. I know she'll wear it over a black top- she wears lots of pink and black- but this shirt was handy.

Also made progress on my plain-Jane sweater, but enough for now. I've been entirely too chatty today. Oh, a couple of folks have asked about the patterns for the baby sweaters for A4A. I'll post them as soon as I have time to write them up in a format that anyone other then me can understand. Time to knit!

Comments

[Secret Pal 4]

Oh, the SnB tank makes my want to be 16 again! It looks great.

[LynnH]

You aren't the only one! I searched the internet for "What does Clapotis mean?" and I found your post. I didn't find the answer yet, though.

LynnH

[Jayne Bisby]

Clapotis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In hydrodynamics, the clapotis (from French: "lapping of water") is a non-breaking standing wave pattern, caused for example, by the reflection of a traveling surface wave train from a near vertical shoreline like a breakwater, seawall or steep cliff. The resulting clapotic wave does not travel horizontally, but has a fixed pattern of nodes and antinodes. These waves promote erosion at the toe of the wall, and can cause severe damage to shore structures.[8] The term was coined in 1877 by French mathematician and physicist Joseph Valentin Boussinesq who called these waves ‘le clapotis’ meaning ‘standing waves’.[9][1

[Jayne Bisby]

p,s If you `google' the word Clapotis it throws up a fascinating view of knitted items created to look like standing waves. Ribs with lace inserted in between each rib (or dropped stitches giving a vertical appearance to the knitted piece) therefore creating the appearance of water standing up, or for a more visual picture water crashing against rocks, a beautiful art and one I will be trying my self asap.
Incidently looking at the dark red wool in the photo it reminded me of stewed cherries, which is what I thought Clapotis was = Morello cherries in syrup purchased in glass jars for making delicious desserts with! I can dream cant I